You have a job interview and so maybe a new job soon. You ‘just need to make sure’ that you make a phenomenal impression on your soon-to-be employer. How? We have put together our top 10 tips for you. Good luck with them! And if you like us to share our thoughts with you, regarding your specific situation, then please call or email us.
Tip 1: Take a Deep Dive Into The Organization And The People
Make sure you know the organization where you have the job interview from the inside and out. What do they do exactly? When did they start and why? What developments have they gone through since then? For which clients to they work? What does the team look like that you are going to work in? What makes them different from their competitors? And who are they, those competitors?
Take a serious look into the people with which you will sit around the table. Who are they? What is their job? For how long do they already work at the organization and what did they do before? Go through their social media profiles and try to get a sense of the human behind the name. Because how cool would it be if you find out that you both were at Tomorrowland? Traveled through Vietnam in the same period? Or by chance, both play bass guitar in your spare time? The best icebreakers are often found on Facebook and Instagram. If you like to remain anonymous, for example on LinkedIn, use an incognito window in Chrome (Ctrl + Shift + N / Command + Shift + N).
Tip 2: Formulate A Strong Story Around Your Three Best Characteristics
A question that is always asked, directly or indirectly. What are your strengths? Take a look at your best characteristics and write down three of them. And how are they expressed? Which stories, examples and situations can you come up with that proves that?
Is it difficult for you to think about yourself? Push. Harder. During an interview, you should be able to talk about yourself with ease. Would you like to make use of a helpline after all? Ask the public for help. A friend. A colleague. Someone on LinkedIn. Your mom. Your mirror image (bonus tip).
Tip 3: Also Think About Your Two Worst Characteristics
You’ve seen it coming. Rightly so. Because this question will definitely be asked during a job interview. What are you really, absolutely bad at? We advise you not to come up with very corny answers, such as “I’m too much of a perfectionist” or “I’m so enthusiastic that I tend to exaggerate sometimes”.
Be creative. You can be honest; you can also grab the opportunity to bring in the things that you don’t like to do, if you are open about it. A good employer makes sure that his employees do what they like and what they are good at. Inferior characteristics always have opposite positive characteristics. You don’t need to make that too obvious.
Tip 4: Prepare Your Greatest Success Stories
Another frequently asked question. And if that question is not asked, search for an entry during the conversation to put in your success story. Nothing works better than a concrete, true story that shows how valuable you are. That may well be a situation that did not take place at your workplace. As long as it is a real and true story.
Tip 9: Prepare Brilliant Questions
Asking a brilliant question makes you look like you are very interested and smart, no question about that. Of course you prepared questions, but take the time to think about that one question that shows that you think just a little bit further then all the other candidates with which you compete. Did you, for example, already encounter to something during your research into the organization? Something you would like to learn more about? Something in which you see a chance or possibility?
Put yourself in the position of the person you have the job interview with. What does he/she do every day? What kind of opportunities and issues will this person encounter on a regular or even special working day? Supplement this with your own perspective; what kind of situations did you encounter in your working experience and how would this situation look like if you were employed by the organization you have the job interview with?
Tip 10: Make Sure You Stand Out
The last and most important tip. Make sure you stand out. The winning candidate is the candidate that has something that the other candidates don’t have.
A special thing like that often takes a lot of work, but makes sure that you show that you take the chance that you get seriously. It would be nice if you can show something. Give yourself an assignment from the perspective of the organization you would like to be employed. What would be a challenging assignment within the organization and for the job for which you apply for?
Do not just think about it, but do it too and bring it with you. Show that you have already begun, because you cannot wait to get started. Come with new, fresh ideas. Because you as an outsider have one big advantage over the person that you have the job interview with: you do not work there (yet). You have that new fresh perspective. You see the things that have for long been in their blind spot. Take this advantage.
Good luck!
Did you observe all these tips? Then you will be well prepared for your job interview. You only need to keep your nerves under control. Zoom out, think about the fact that a job interview is very important, but the real important things are much bigger. That this is one moment in a whole life. That, whatever the outcome will be, you will survive and get something out of it. That you, even if the interview was very bad, can look back on it with a smile after a while.
And probably you are going to do very well. You will probably be more aware about your nerves than the person with which you sit around the table. And, lastly, it is normal and healthy to feel some kind of tension.
